FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

This five-month cohort experience is built on the WELL (Women’s Elevated Leadership Learning) Model and taught by women with executive and coaching experience.

The cohort journey unfolds in three powerful dimensions:

• Leading Self
• Leading Others
• Leading the Business

Curriculum Framework: The WELL Model

Leading Self

• WELL-GROUNDED – Growing self-awareness enables women to be WELL-GROUNDED in their leadership purpose, values, and personal brand.
• WELL-FUELED – Leaders who understand how to manage stress, build resilience, and sustain energy are WELL-FUELED to go the distance.

Leading Others

• WELL-VOICED – Strengthening confidence and executive presence empowers the effective communication and negotiation skills of a WELL-VOICED leader who can command attention in high-stakes moments.

• WELL-CONNECTED – Providing strategies to influence up, down, and across creates WELL-CONNECTED leaders who can build relationships and lead cross-functionally.

Leading the Business

• WELL-ACCOMPLISHED – Driving change, mastering prioritization, and thinking strategically will make for a WELL-ACCOMPLISHED professional who delivers results and leads by example.

Additional Program Features:

Learning WELL Circle (Peer Coaching Groups): Collaborate with cohort members to build a life-long board of directors to solve real-time leadership challenges now and in the future.

Executive Mentorship: Personalized guidance and support from high-level executive women leaders.

Mid-level women leaders across all sectors – typically holding titles such as Manager or Director –  with experience leading others and a desire to grow their influence and strategic impact.

Ideal Alice Houston Women’s Leadership participants are:

• Navigating the demands of leading others while managing up.
• Seeking to build self-confidence, clarity, and executive presence.
• Facing high expectations in dynamic, fast-paced environments.
• Interested in learning how to influence decisions across departments and power structures.
• Ready to grow in resilience and align their leadership with their values and purpose.

Each Class Includes:

• Diverse cohort across sectors, life stages, industries, and lived experiences.
• Women eager to build peer connections, share insights, and support one another.
• Strong mix of corporate, nonprofit, healthcare, education, and entrepreneurial leaders.

The Alice Houston Women’s Leadership Program classes are typically around 50 to ensure that all participants will be able to connect on a meaningful level.

When employers invest in the growth of women leaders through support of their participation in this program, they gain:

• More Effective Leaders: Participants return with sharpened tools for strategic execution, influence, and collaboration
• Retention & Engagement: Women who feel seen, supported, and invested in are more likely to stay and grow with your organization
• Fueling Leadership Progression: Prepare more women for senior leadership through targeted, results-driven development
• Improved Communication & Culture: Graduates foster more engaged, emotionally intelligent, and high-performing teams

Key features of the Alice Houston Women’s Leadership Program are:

Key Features:

• WELL Model Curriculum: Five pillars of leadership development—WELL-GROUNDED, WELL-CONNECTED, WELL-VOICED, WELL-ACCOMPLISHED, and WELL-FUELED—designed specifically for women leaders
• Real-World Application: Hands-on exercises, leadership labs, and reflective practices tied to participants’ real work and leadership context
• Mentoring & Coaching: Executive mentorship plus structured peer coaching circles for guidance, insight, and accountability
• Monthly Leadership Intensives: Full-day sessions focused on high-impact skills such as negotiation, strategic influence, and resilience-building

Participants benefit by strengthening critical skills and competencies, including:

• Strategic Thinking & Influence: Gain confidence in long-term thinking, decision-making, and cross-functional leadership.
• Executive Presence & Voice: Learn how to command attention and inspire confidence in high-stakes conversations.
• Self-Awareness & Self-Confidence: Clarify your leadership values, purpose, and personal brand.
• Negotiation Mastery: Learn how to ask for what you want, advocate for your team, and drive outcomes.
• Resilience & Sustainability: Build stamina and stress-management strategies to lead with clarity—even in pressure-filled environments.
• Supportive Peer Network: Connect with a community of growth-minded women who lift each other up.

This program is a five-month cohort program. Including a mandatory two-day overnight opening retreat, and one full program day per month where you will receive professional development training specific to women’s advancement.

Please check the program calendar to ensure the dates work for your schedule prior to submitting an application.

Our selection committee considers experience, size of team, responses to essay questions, and approval from your employer/supervisor. The application consists of three parts:

• Submit your online application.
• Have your manager complete this commitment form. A form from your supervisor must be completed to be considered for the program. If you have more than one supervisor who would be impacted by your participation in the Alice Houston Women’s Leadership Program, you must submit a commitment form from each of them.
• Upload a high-quality photo (headshot). Please submit a photo that is at least 1200px wide and at least 200 pixels per inch resolution. The photo may be uploaded at the link at the bottom of this page

Applications are considered complete once all components of the application have been received by the Leadership Louisville Center. A selection committee determines which applicants will be invited to participate in the Alice Houston Women’s Leadership Program.

Key Application Dates:

• Application deadline: December 1, 2025
• Acceptance notifications: January 2026
• Program kickoff: February 26, 2026

Tuition for The Alice Houston Women’s Leadership Program is $5,150. This includes an overnight retreat at the West Baden Springs Hotel, meals, and materials throughout the entirety of the program. Tuition support can be requested if cost is a barrier. Payment plans are available.

The Leadership Louisville Center programs have attendance policies to ensure the best possible experience for all participants. If program sessions are not attended, it impacts the experience of everyone in the program.

Program tuition is non-refundable under any circumstances, including withdrawal or dismissal.

General Attendance Rules

• Mandatory Sessions: Missing a mandatory session (such as an opening day or retreat) in whole or in part will result in automatic dismissal from the program and forfeiture of tuition.
• Allowed absences: For non-mandatory sessions, full-day and partial-day absences are both counted. Time away from a program day will be tracked, and 8 hours total equals one (1) absence. Each program specifies how many absences are allowed.
• Exceeding allowed absences: If you exceed the absence limit for your program, your continued participation will be reviewed by the Leadership Louisville Center Board of Directors. You must petition the Board in writing within 30 days of notification, explaining the reasons for your absences. Failure to petition will result in dismissal.
• Consecutive absences: Consecutive absences beyond the program’s limit will result in automatic dismissal.

Alice Houston Women’s Leadership Program Attendance Policy

• The February opening retreat must be attended in full. Missing any part will result in automatic dismissal and forfeiture of tuition.
• Outside of mandatory sessions, one (1) excused absence is allowed.
• A second absence triggers review by the Board of Directors.
• If approved to continue, a third absence will result in dismissal.
• Two consecutive absences will result in dismissal.